Quiz: Is Software Engineering For Me?

If you’ve been researching high-growth jobs with even higher earning potential, you’ve likely landed on software engineering.

With most careers tracks, certain people tend – “tend” being the key word here — to be more successful, but that doesn’t mean that companies won’t benefit from different types of work ethics, styles, and backgrounds.

So if you’re asking yourself “is software engineering right for me?”, we put together this handy quiz to test your software engineering aptitude. This quiz doesn’t determine anything besides shared characteristics between successful software engineers, and a proficiency and an interest in coding is a great place to start no matter what your results are.

Learn More: Software Engineer Salaries by Level & City

Quiz: Is Software Engineering For Me?

Answer the following quiz questions and note the letter of each corresponding answer you choose. The legend at the end will tell you your results.

What interests you most about the software engineering career path?

    A. Earning potential. I want to make money — and lots of it!

    B. Scope of work. I find creating things, problem solving, and working with others rewarding.

    C. Remote work and independence. I like that a lot of tech jobs don’t require you to be in office.

How do you best work with people?

    A. I prefer to work on my own, but I’ll loop in other people as needed.

    B. I enjoy working in teams, especially on large projects where we each have individual components to bring to the table.

    C. I’d rather work on my own. I do it right, and I do it best!

What’s your philosophy on learning within your career?

    A. I’ll take whatever certifications or courses are needed to help me succeed in my career or that are required by my manager.

    B. I’m a lifelong learner. I’ll go out of my way to learn new skills or research something I don’t know, even if it’s in the moment.

    C. Once I’ve landed the job, I don’t think I need to learn much more. Right?

Are you a perfectionist?

    A. Absolutely! If it’s not perfect and buttoned up the first time around, I shut down.

    B. I like things done well and done right, but I’m okay if it takes a few tries to get there. The journey is just as important as the destination.

    C. Not really. Something doesn’t need to be perfect for it to work.

Do you prefer to see the big picture or the small details that make it up?

    A. Small details are the only thing that helps the big picture come together.

    B. I look at both — they’re weighted equally in my book.

    C. Big picture only. I don’t get bogged down in the small details.

That’s the quiz! Now that you’ve completed it, tally up the number of A, B, and C answers you recorded.

If you answered mostly As…

You exhibit some of the qualities that a software engineer needs. However, getting bogged down in teeny, tiny details without seeing the light at the end of the journey will net you some not-so-promising results in the end. Software engineers have to look at the big and the small picture. More often than not, your code will not be perfect the first, second, even fifth time around, so striving for perfection isn’t in the best interest of a software engineer.

You exhibit some of the right traits for learning on the job and working with others, but those are two very important characteristics you’ll want to continue flexing if software engineering is the path for you.

If you answered mostly Bs…

Are you sure you aren’t a software engineer already? By enjoying the scope of work, learning on the job, and working with others while tossing the idea of perfection to the side, you exhibit the perfect traits of someone who would make a strong software engineer.

What’s next? Learn as many different programming languages as you can and grow your portfolio with projects. You’ve got the right attitude and attributes — now, just back it up with proof of work.

If you answered mostly Cs…

While you may not inherently possess the traits of a software engineer, all skills are just muscles needing to be flexed. Remote work is one major benefit a lot of software engineers enjoy, but it can honestly be an isolating experience in work that requires you to work well within a team.

The most important thing about becoming a software engineer is that you enjoy the work you do. Try your hand at free coding courses to see if it’s something you can see yourself doing. From there, create projects and fine-tune your resume. Those skills around working with others and being a lifelong learner can — and will — be learned on the job.

Coding is a skill for everyone, no matter what answers you received

No matter what your results were, learning how to code is one of the most transferable and useful skills in any industry. With App Academy Open, you can access our entire online full-stack curriculum for free (no credit card required)!

Begin your coding journey with App Academy Open today.